Rear axle nuts
Moderator emeritus
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 18,599
Likes: 3,951
From: Jacksonville Florida BWO Dayton, Cincinnati, Bloomsbury NJ, Cincinnati
2015 C7 of the Year Finalist
I went to get ceramic pads put on today and have the rear double nutted. My 33mm that I have fits the nuts on the axles. The new nuts would not fit the 33mm, the 34 was too loose and the 1 5/16 wouldn't fit., DAMN! We ended up using my 33mm and using a rubber mallet to coax it onto the new nuts. What a total clusterf*ck. There is absolutely no quality control on this damn nut.
Elmer
Elmer
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 7,588
Likes: 6
From: Montreal Qc
I went to get ceramic pads put on today and have the rear double nutted. My 33mm that I have fits the nuts on the axles. The new nuts would not fit the 33mm, the 34 was too loose and the 1 5/16 wouldn't fit., DAMN! We ended up using my 33mm and using a rubber mallet to coax it onto the new nuts. What a total clusterf*ck. There is absolutely no quality control on this damn nut.
Elmer
Elmer
FYI, the 1-5/16 is almost exactly halfway between a 33MM and a 34MM, but glad you managed to get the second set on the axle...it won't come loose again I'm sure!
CF Senior Member
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 3,262
Likes: 21
From: Palm City Florida
Just bought a 33m socket from autozone. Checked the torque on my axle nuts. Both were fine. It is possible that my local Chevy dealer may have tightened them when they mounted my chrome wheels last year.
Race Director
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 13,592
Likes: 187
From: Hudson WI
NCM Sinkhole Donor
I just checked mine and both were loose. The right side needed 1.5 turns to get to 118 FP. The "clunking" noise is now gone as well, so now I know what was making the noise.
Pro
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 704
Likes: 1
From: TORONTO
My dealer tech knew nothing about it when he tightened mine Thursday of last week. I showed some of the posts on here and he promptly removed the wheels to find these nuts were loose.
He now says he will check every c6 that comes in, but I don't think the dealers care enough - unfortunately - to be proactive about this. Has to come from the General itself.
A good idea is if someone on the forum has any connections at all with an appropriate GM employee; e-mail or fax or snail mail them this list ASAP.
They should be made aware of it and it should be documented well. Then if someone does have a mishap due to this issue, perhaps a foundation for recompense will already exist.
He now says he will check every c6 that comes in, but I don't think the dealers care enough - unfortunately - to be proactive about this. Has to come from the General itself.
A good idea is if someone on the forum has any connections at all with an appropriate GM employee; e-mail or fax or snail mail them this list ASAP.
They should be made aware of it and it should be documented well. Then if someone does have a mishap due to this issue, perhaps a foundation for recompense will already exist.
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
How Much Horsepower Every Corvette Engine "LOST" in 1972
Joe Kucinski
Top 10 DOs and DON'Ts for Protecting Your Convertible Top!
Michael S. Palmer
Top 10 Most Explosive Corvettes Ever Made: Power-to-Weight Ratio Ranked!
Joe Kucinski
150 hp to 1,250 hp: Every Corvette Generation Compared by the Specs That Matter
Joe Kucinski
8 Coolest Corvette Pace Cars (and Replicas) of All Time
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Corvette Engines RANKED by Peak Torque (70+ Years of Muscle!)
Joe Kucinski
Corvette ZR1X Will Be Pacing the Indy 500, And Could Probably Race, Too!
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Corvettes Coming to Mecum Indy 2026!
Brett Foote
Top 10 C9 Corvette MUST-HAVES to Fix These C8 Generation Flaws!
Michael S. Palmer
Team Owner
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 32,074
Likes: 296
From: San Francisco CA
My dealer tech knew nothing about it when he tightened mine Thursday of last week. I showed some of the posts on here and he promptly removed the wheels to find these nuts were loose.
He now says he will check every c6 that comes in, but I don't think the dealers care enough - unfortunately - to be proactive about this. Has to come from the General itself.
A good idea is if someone on the forum has any connections at all with an appropriate GM employee; e-mail or fax or snail mail them this list ASAP.
They should be made aware of it and it should be documented well. Then if someone does have a mishap due to this issue, perhaps a foundation for recompense will already exist.
He now says he will check every c6 that comes in, but I don't think the dealers care enough - unfortunately - to be proactive about this. Has to come from the General itself.
A good idea is if someone on the forum has any connections at all with an appropriate GM employee; e-mail or fax or snail mail them this list ASAP.
They should be made aware of it and it should be documented well. Then if someone does have a mishap due to this issue, perhaps a foundation for recompense will already exist.
Pro
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 704
Likes: 1
From: TORONTO
For everyone's best interest perhaps this thread should be made a sticky. If the General won't help - for some in time possibly - then this forum can issue this as a safety warning....?? Not sure how that works around here.
Have any moderators posted in?
Have any moderators posted in?
Bow-Tie Guy
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 1,057
Likes: 30
From: Chesapeake VA
I did mine today on my '06 Z-51 with 1790 miles. Performance Tool 33 mm was a perfect fit. Driver side was at least 118 ft-lbs, passenger side was no more than 30 ft-lbs. Scary, is this a quality control issue or are they indeed working themselves loose @ 1,700 miles?
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 10,399
Likes: 25
From: Austin Texas
The debate on the correct size socket seems to blame Chevy quality control for the dimensions of the nuts, it's more likely the quality control on the sockets. Who's more likely to be wrong? Chevy or a Taiwan factory?
Le Mans Master
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 6,566
Likes: 2
From: Goleta CA
Cruise-In VIII Veteran
It's not a safety issue, so that'll never happen. The cost of doing warranty repairs on damage caused by excessively loose nuts, is probably zero, so there's really no point from a bean counter's perspective. At best, they could put out a TSB and have dealers check the nuts on cars that happen to come in for service.
Race Director
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 13,592
Likes: 187
From: Hudson WI
NCM Sinkhole Donor
The Taiwan plant may have also made the nut. Just remember, the wheels come from china........
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 7,588
Likes: 6
From: Montreal Qc
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 21,543
Likes: 3,216
From: Park City Utah
There seems to be a lot of confusion about what this nut does or does not do. It does hold the splined shaft in position so that it is not slopping around in and out of the differential. It does not hold on the hub so that your wheel won't fall off. The hub is held in place by the rear suspension, as mentioned previously by one of the other posts. Perehaps the attached exploded view...
Your diagram shows the hub assy bolted to the "knuckle", sure enough. No matter what happens to the nut on the axle, and the axle itself, the hub assy (or the outter part of it anyways) is going nowhere; just like the diagram shows.
The problem is, your diagram doesn't show how the rear wheel bearing, and the actual HUB itself (the part that the wheel bolts to) is held into the hub assy, and preloaded. If it's like other GM products of similar design, the tightening of the axle nut sets and holds the preload of the wheel bearing. It also holds the hub, into the inner race of the bearings in the "hub" assy. With the nut gone, the bearing is free to work loose over time, eventually come out of the hub, and then the wheel comes off. That is why you get posts like these:
Originally Posted by LMB 4 ME
Sometimes it would "POP" when I hit the breaks. Turns out my axle was loose.
Originally Posted by CodyC6
Interesting, I was getting a popping noise last week too. When I would brake hard, and then when I pulled out in a turn. Since I tightened mine, I haven't heard that noise again.
Last edited by Tom400CFI; Jun 12, 2007 at 07:04 PM.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 5,328
Likes: 405
I believe that this is misinformation. I think that the wheel CAN fall off, and here is why:
Your diagram shows the hub assy bolted to the "knuckle", sure enough. No matter what happens to the nut on the axle, and the axle itself, the hub assy (or the outter part of it anyways) is going nowhere; just like the diagram shows.
The problem is, your diagram doesn't show how the rear wheel bearing, and the actual HUB itself (the part that the wheel bolts to) is held into the hub assy, and preloaded. If it's like other GM products of similar design, the tightening of the axle nut sets and holds the preload of the wheel bearing. It also holds the hub, into the inner race of the bearings in the "hub" assy. With the nut gone, the bearing is free to work loose over time, eventually come out of the hub, and then the wheel comes off. That is why you get posts like these:
Granted it's going to take a LOT of aggresive driving to get the PRESSED bearing to come apart, but it sure can. And granted it will make some hellish sound before it comes apart, but it can.
Your diagram shows the hub assy bolted to the "knuckle", sure enough. No matter what happens to the nut on the axle, and the axle itself, the hub assy (or the outter part of it anyways) is going nowhere; just like the diagram shows.
The problem is, your diagram doesn't show how the rear wheel bearing, and the actual HUB itself (the part that the wheel bolts to) is held into the hub assy, and preloaded. If it's like other GM products of similar design, the tightening of the axle nut sets and holds the preload of the wheel bearing. It also holds the hub, into the inner race of the bearings in the "hub" assy. With the nut gone, the bearing is free to work loose over time, eventually come out of the hub, and then the wheel comes off. That is why you get posts like these:
Granted it's going to take a LOT of aggresive driving to get the PRESSED bearing to come apart, but it sure can. And granted it will make some hellish sound before it comes apart, but it can.
Last edited by glass slipper; Jun 12, 2007 at 09:22 PM.